Evidence of meeting #3 for Citizenship and Immigration in the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was students.
A video is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Amandeep Sodhi Liberal Brampton Centre, ON
I'll leave it, just because I don't think we'll have enough time for an answer.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Julie Dzerowicz
Thank you so much, Ms. Sodhi.
Mr. Brunelle‑Duceppe, you have the floor.
Bloc
Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe Bloc Lac-Saint-Jean, QC
Ms. Zafar, thank you for being here. I realize the questions have been tough.
You said you received a summary of the report, but you haven't seen the whole thing. I want you to know that Enquête is a very popular TV show in Quebec. The episode I'm talking about was aired last week as the show's season opener. It's a major scandal. I also want you to know that universities and the Government of Quebec certainly didn't appreciate your department's response. I would therefore encourage you to consider how you might respond to such reports in the future.
Before the episode aired, were you aware that an international criminal ring is operating on Canadian soil?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Migration Integrity, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
Yes, I am aware that there are criminal activities happening in Canada, some of those undertaken by foreign—
Bloc
Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe Bloc Lac-Saint-Jean, QC
I'm talking about this specific organization. Were you aware of it?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Migration Integrity, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
I was not aware of that particular network myself.
Bloc
Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe Bloc Lac-Saint-Jean, QC
What tools do you think your department could come up with to ensure that this kind of thing doesn't happen again and to solve this problem?
Let's not forget that it was a journalist who exposed what has been going on. We have some very good journalists, and Mr. Schué did excellent work on this report.
People are looking for solutions. Think of the hundreds of people who have been victims of these organizations and have been left with nothing. Some have lost up to $300,000 of their savings.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Migration Integrity, Department of Citizenship and Immigration
Thank you for the question.
Many of the measures we talked about today will help. Unfortunately, sometimes the negative results we see from foreign nationals entering Canada, if they have committed some type of fraud, happen six months to a year after the permits have been issued. There's always a lag time in terms of what we actually see resulting. From an immigration perspective, we're able to take that information and, as I mentioned, feed it back into the system so that we're not allowing foreign nationals to come in with similar intentions or characteristics.
When something like this happens, we do work very closely with our law enforcement partners. I myself attend various Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police committees. If there are immigration links, we're able to see how we can take the law enforcement or criminal information and improve our systems and processes. There is that continuous conversation.
Bloc
Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe Bloc Lac-Saint-Jean, QC
If the department is coming up with new tools, that means there was a problem and they want to solve it.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Julie Dzerowicz
Thank you, Monsieur Brunelle-Duceppe. I think we're at or over time.
I want to say a huge thanks to our witnesses. Boy, an hour and a half goes by very quickly. Thank you for all your work. Thank you for being here today. As you can tell, this is an area of tremendous interest and importance to our committee and to all Canadians.
What I will do right now is suspend for as short a time as possible, so that the witnesses can leave. Then, we can move in camera to discuss committee business.
[Proceedings continue in camera]